she joins us from new york. welcome. >> thank you, gwen. >> ifill: arianna, i look at the cover of your book and i think to myself america is still the world's most prosperous nation. how do you define "third world"? >> well, i know it's a jarring phrase, gwen, but i chose it deliberatery because i felt that we needed a warning. we needed to sort of sound the alarm about the trajectory we're arm about the middle-class crumbling. and the middle-class is the foundation not just of our democracy and our prosperity but our political stability. and so as the middle-class is crumbling, we really have a certain time, a window during which we can course correct and turn things around. and i end the book on an optimistic note that we can do that, but only if we bring a sense of urgency to the undertaking. >> ifill: you're a political animal, when you say the middle-class is crumbling, what are the events you would say led us to this point? >> well, it has been going on for about 30 years. it didn't just happen because of